Interactive tournament contest

ABSTRACT

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention sets forth a system, method and computer program product which may include providing an interactive tournament contest; allowing at least one participant participating in the tournament contest to invite at least one additional participant to participate in the tournament contest; and providing a prize to the winner of the interactive tournament contest, wherein a value of the prize increases dependent upon a total number of the participants participating in the tournament contest.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application No.60/778,945 entitled “Interactive Tournament Contest,” filed Mar. 6,2006, Attorney Docket Number 41325-231681, and is a continuation-in-partof U.S. application Ser. No. 11/669,883 entitled “Online Waiting RoomSystem, Method, and Computer Program Product,” filed Jan. 31, 2007,Attorney Docket Number 41325-231682, both of which are of commonassignee to the present invention, the contents of both of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Generally, embodiments of the present invention relate to massivelymultiplayer online (MMO) games, more specifically to MMO tournaments,and more particularly to MMO tournament games.

2. Related Art

Massively multiplayer online (MMO) games may allow multiple distributedpeople to participate in a game which may occur within a shared virtualworld. Conventionally, MMOs have existed for such categories as, e.g.,but not limited to, first person shooter games. The holy grail of massmarket MMOs require much more scaleable systems than used inconventional MMOs.

Tournaments are organized competitions, such as, e.g., but not limitedto, head-to-head competitions or contests, between a group ofparticipants or contestants. Many sporting contests and othercompetitions occur in the tournament format. Example tournaments includethe United States' National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men'sBasketball tournament, which occurs annually in the March time period.Contestants in a tournament are often ranked by their skill level, andthen “seeded,” or placed, into brackets. Conventionally, seeding willtake place to avoid having the best athletes eliminate one another inearly rounds. Thus, seeding determines in which bracket the contestantplays. Seeding may intentionally separate the best ranked athletes toincrease the chance that these best ranked contestants will only meet inlater rounds of the tournament. If there are an uneven number ofcontestants, some contestants may get to pass a round, referred tocolloquially as “getting a bye.”

Online networked environments such as the Internet and world wide webhave brought interactivity to the video game world. MMO gametechnologies can allow multiple remote players to participate in ashared video game. Unfortunately, conventional MMO games lack adequatescalability to support mass market applications.

SUMMARY

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention set forth a method,system and computer program product for providing an interactive game(such as, e.g., but not limited to, a tournament, a skill game, atournament with prizing, and/or a contest), which may be used to drivetraffic to a given location such as, e.g., but not limited to, awebsite. An exemplary embodiment of the method may include: a) providingan interactive game; b) allowing at least one participant in the game toinvite at least one additional participant to participate in the game;and c) providing an incentive to the winner of the game, wherein a valueof the incentive increases dependent upon a total number of theparticipants in the game. In an exemplary embodiment, the game may be amassively multiplayer online game (MMO). In one exemplary embodiment,the game may include a game such as, e.g., but not limited to, atournament, a skill game, a tournament with prizing, and/or a contest,and/or tournament contest.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may further include d) providingan indication of growth of the value of the prize as the total number ofthe contestants participating increases. One exemplary embodiment of themethod may include where the indication may include at least one of: agraphical indication; an image; a video image; an animated image; agraphical indication; a multi-dimensional indication; a two-dimensionalindication; a three-dimensional indication; a pyramid; a cone; acylindrical; a tower; a polygon; a triangle; and/or a rectangle.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may include where the interactivetournament contest may include head-to-head pairings.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may further include at least oneof: d) tracking performance in the tournament contest of invitedcontestants of a given contestant; and/or e) providing the performanceof the invited contestants to the given contestant.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may include where (b) may includeat least one of: allowing the at least one contestant to invite aplurality of additional contestants at one time; allowing the at leastone contestant to maintain a buddy list of additional contestants;and/or allowing the at least one contestant to track performance of thebuddy list.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may include where the (a) mayinclude: providing a countdown to start clock to the contestants.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may include where the (a) mayinclude: providing a commencement indication of the approaching time ofcommencement of the tournament.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may include where the commencementindication may include at least one of: an audio indication, a videoindication, a musical indication, and/or a crescendo musical indication.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may include where the tournamentcontest may include at least one of: a plurality of questions; aplurality of rounds; a plurality of rounds may include a plurality ofquestions; a timed question; a timed round; a plurality of timed roundsmay include a plurality of timed questions; a round of at least one of:at least one question, 2 questions, 3 questions, 4 questions, 5questions, 6 questions, 7 questions, and/or n questions; a fill in theblank question; a multiple choice question; and/or a true and/or falsequestion.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may include where points in thetournament contest are earned by the at least one contestant by at leastone of: correctly answering a question, correctly answering a questionprior to completion of a timer, correctly answering a question prior toanother of the at least one contestants, and/or correctly answering aquestion faster than another of the at least one contestants.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may include where the tournamentcontest may include at least one of: providing a head-to-headtournament; providing a head-to-head bracketed pairing; providing anonline tournament; providing a web-based tournament; providing aninteractive television-based tournament; providing a single eliminationtournament; providing at least a double elimination tournament;providing a consolation round; providing a consolation round whereinwinning is only dependent on total points earned in a tournament; and/orproviding a consolation round with multiple participants in aone-to-many contest.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may include where (b) may includeat least one of: providing the at least one contestant an indication ofpoints earned in at least one of a round, and/or the tournament; and/orproviding the at least one contest an indication of points earned by theat least one additional contestant invited by the at least onecontestant.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may include where (b) may include:providing a buddy list to the at least one contestant; and/or providingan avatar to the at least one contestant.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may further include at least oneof: providing statistics about performance of the at least onecontestant; providing results of the tournament contest; providing atleast one top performance of the at least one contestants; providing alist of the performance of the top ten of the at least one contestants;and/or providing performance results to the at least one contestant fromat least one of the tournament and/or a previous tournament.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may further include at least oneof: providing an advertisement (ad) during at least one of: before,between, and/or during one or more rounds of the tournament contest;providing a banner ad; providing a video ad; providing an audio ad;providing an animated ad; providing content; providing audio content;and/or providing video content.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may further include providing aschedule of at least one of a current tournament, a past tournamentand/or a future tournament.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may further include providing, inthe event of an odd number of contestants, at least one of: a bye, atoken contestant, a ghost contestant, a computer-generated contestant, asacrificial lamb contestant, and/or a software agent contestant.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may further include enabling athird party may include at least one of a business, an individual, aconsumer, a charity, and/or an entity, to conduct the tournament contestmay include at least one of: receiving a selection of a skin option;receiving a mod option; receiving a third party sponsored prize;receiving a fee from the third party; and/or sharing revenue sharingwith the third party.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may further include enablingcollaboration between two or more contestants may include providing atleast one of: an Internet chat session; an instant message; a chat room;an email; and/or a voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) session.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may further include an applicationenabling provision of the tournament contest, the application providingat least one of: a program on a computer readable medium, a downloadableprogram, an applet, a web-enabled application, and/or a JAVAapplication.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may include where the method isperformed on at least one of: a browser-based system; a standaloneworkstation-based system; a client-server based system; a server-basedsystem; and/or an application service provider (ASP)-based system.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may include where the method isused for attracting users including at least one of: attractingnon-registered new subscribers; attracting traffic from existingsubscribers; and/or attracting live people.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may include where the users beingattracted are being attracted to at least one of: a website; abroadcast; a program; an event; a sporting event; an entertainmentevent; access to content; a viewing of content; and/or playback ofcontent.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may include where c) may includeat least one of: providing a fact-related contest; providing anentertainment related contest; providing a content related contest;providing a movie content related contest; providing a music contentrelated contest; providing a television content related contest;providing a sports related contest; providing a current events relatedcontest; providing a news related contest; providing a trivia contest;providing a sports trivia contest; providing an entertainment triviacontest; providing a movie trivia contest; providing a television triviacontest; providing a television program trivia contest; and/or providinga broadcast trivia contest.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may further include requiring thecontestants to perform at least one of: performing a reverse Turing testto indicate a live contestant; entering a unique indicator of the atleast one contestant; entering a social security number of the at leastone contestant; and/or entering an email address of the at least onecontestant.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may include where c) may include:increasing the value of the prize after at least one of: the totalnumber reaches at least one threshold level of participation, the totalnumber exceeds at least one threshold level of participation, the totalnumber falls within a range of participation, the total number reaches alevel of participation, and/or the total number reaches a tier ofparticipation.

An exemplary embodiment of the method may include where the c) mayinclude providing a tournament to users using at least one of: a browserenabled device; a web browser-enabled device; a web device; a computingdevice; a communications device; a telephony device; an interactivetelevision (iTV) device; a wireless device; a personal digital assistantdevice; a location-based device; and/or a geographic positioning system(GPS) location-based device.

An exemplary embodiment of the system may include an interactivetournament contest, adapted to allow at least one contestantparticipating in the tournament contest to invite at least oneadditional contestant to participate in the tournament contest, andadapted to provide a prize to the winner of the interactive tournamentcontest, wherein a value of the prize increases dependent upon a totalnumber of the contestants participating in the tournament contest.

Another exemplary embodiment of the system may include means forproviding an interactive tournament contest; means for allowing at leastone contestant participating in the tournament contest to invite atleast one additional contestant to participate in the tournamentcontest; and means for providing a prize to the winner of theinteractive tournament contest, wherein a value of the prize increasesdependent upon a total number of the contestants participating in thetournament contest.

An exemplary embodiment of the computer readable medium may include acomputer-readable medium embodying logic which when executed on acomputer performs a method may include: providing an interactivetournament contest; allowing at least one contestant participating inthe tournament contest to invite at least one additional contestant toparticipate in the tournament contest; and providing a prize to thewinner of the interactive tournament contest, wherein a value of theprize increases dependent upon a total number of the contestantsparticipating in the tournament contest.

Another exemplary embodiment of the invention may set forth a method ofproviding a scaleable massively multiplayer online (MMO) game, which mayinclude: a) upon determining a total number of participants for a game,merging participants into a minimal number of segments having up to apredetermined capacity of participants per segment; b) populating anyunfilled of the minimal number of segments with at least one of a ghostand/or a bye, to completely fill each of the minimal number of segmentsto the predetermined capacity.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention may further include at leastone of: c) randomly assigning participants to initial segments; d)randomly assigning participants to initial segments prior to determiningthe total number of participants for the game; e) reassigning theparticipants to a different segment of the available segments based onany seeding of the participants.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention may further include: c) seedingthe participants within each of the segments.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention may further include: d)reassigning the participants to another segment of the segments, basedon the seeding.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention where a) may include:determining a minimal number of segments needed to get as close aspossible to a predetermined capacity limitation into which to divide thetotal number of participants, to reach less than or equal to apre-determined segment capacity limit.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention where the determining mayinclude: determining a number x of segments into which to place theparticipants, which provides a value N^(x), where the value N^(x) is anearest value, greater than or equal to, the total number ofparticipants.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention, where x is equal to the numberof rounds to be played in the game.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention where the N is equal to atleast one of: 2 for a head-to-head competition; 3 for a three-waycompetition; 4 for a four-way competition; 4 for a bridge-likecompetition; 5 for a 5-way competition game; 5 for a poker competitiongame; 6 for a 6-way competition game; 7 for a 7-way competition game; 8for an 8-way competition game; 9 for a 9-way competition game; and/or 10for a 10-way competition game.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention where a given segment to whicha participant is assigned is transparent to the participant.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention where merging may includemerging participants together with a best fit algorithm.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention where there are not more Ghostand/or bye participants than real participants.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention may further include seeding andwhere the seeding may include: seeding based on a rating level of theparticipants, where the rating level of the participants is assignedbased on participant performance; seeding in bracket style, where thebracket style may include having highest-rated participants playlowest-rated participants.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention may further include: d) at theend of a round, creating a new segment in a new round; and e) mergingwinners from previous adjacent segments into the new segment.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention where for a game having eachsegment populated with a N^(x) participants, only 1 of every group ofthe N^(x) participants move into the next segment.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention where participants in theconsolation round are not reassigned from their segments because theyare not involved in matchups.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention where the predeterminedcapacity may include at least one of: 1024 participants per segment;and/or a quantity N^(x), where N equals a number of participants persegment, and where x may include a number of rounds of the game.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention where c) may include:determining a quantity N^(x) segments, where N is equal to a numberparticipants per segment, and wherein x may include a number of roundsof the game.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention, where N is equal to 2 for ahead-to-head competition.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention, where N is equal to 4 for abridge competition.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention, where N is equal to 5 for apoker competition.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention, where as a value of Nincreases, the number of rounds of the game decrease, and the faster thegame is completed.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention, where x is equal to a numberof rounds of the game.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention, where x is equal to a numberof initial segments.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention, where data transmissionpackets are the same size regardless of the total number ofparticipants.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various exemplary features and advantages of the invention will beapparent from the following, more particular description of exemplaryembodiments of the present invention, as illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings wherein like reference numbers generally indicate identical,functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The leftmost digits in the corresponding reference number indicate the drawingin which an element first appears.

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary computer system that may be used inimplementing an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2-4 depict various exemplary embodiments of ways by whichcontestants may access a massively multiplayer online (MMO) gameincluding, e.g., a tournament contest according to the presentinvention, via exemplary interactive television (ITV) environments.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot from withinan exemplary Trivia Tower game.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot from withinan exemplary Trivia Tower game.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot from withinan exemplary Trivia Tower game.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot from withinan exemplary Trivia Tower game.

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot from withinan exemplary Trivia Tower game.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot from withinan exemplary Trivia Tower game.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot from withinan exemplary Trivia Tower game.

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot from withinan exemplary Trivia Tower game.

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot from withinan exemplary Trivia Tower game.

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot from withinan exemplary Trivia Tower game.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

Various exemplary embodiments including a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention are discussed in detail below. While specificexemplary embodiments are discussed, it should be understood that thisis done for illustration purposes only. A person skilled in the relevantart will recognize that other components and configurations may be usedwithout parting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Game Overview

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a TriviaTower game and/or tournament contest may place many users into asingle-elimination tournament style of head-to-head contest and/or game.According to an exemplary embodiment, the game may be an interactiveapplication accessible by a user from, e.g., but not limited to, acomputing device, a computer, a personal computer (PC), a workstation, alaptop, notebook, handheld, palm top device, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a communications device, a telephony device, a mobilephone, a client, a server, a terminal, a local and/or remote device, awired and/or wireless device, a web-based and/or Internet coupleddevice, and/or an interactive television (TV) device.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, losers ofa first level of a tournament may participate in a consolation round,which may be, in an exemplary embodiment, a one on many contest.According to another exemplary embodiment, a double-elimination, atriple-elimination, and/or greater levels and/or or other types oftournament style games may be provided. According to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, users may be divided into rooms,and may be asked in real time the same set of questions. According to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention, questions answeredcorrectly may award the user points based on how quickly the answer wassubmitted. According to an exemplary embodiment, the more quickly oneanswers may award a user a greater number of points. According to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention, wrong answers may resultin a user receiving no points (or a negative amount). According to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention, the winner of each roommay advance to the next round, and the process may repeat until theremay be a sole winner. According to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention, the user may be also referred to as, e.g., but notlimited to, a participant, a contestant, a player, etc.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, aconsolation room may be created where, e.g., but not limited to, all thelosers can continue playing after they may have been eliminated from asingle elimination, main tournament. According to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, users may carry forward the pointsthey may have accumulated during the bracket portion of the contest astheir starting points for the consolation game.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the gamemay be able to run on a website so as to drive traffic and newsubscribers to a website such as, e.g., but not limited to, sports,news, content and/or entertainment websites. Although the exemplaryembodiment describes an online website tournament contest, the presentinvention is equally applicable to other interactive environments suchas, e.g., interactive television (iTV), etc. Similarly, alternativeexemplary embodiments may be used to obtain additional traffic to othercontent sites such as, e.g., but not limited to, movie content sites,television programming sites, programming service sites, broadcastsites, video content sites, audio content sites, music content sites,and/or music video content sites, etc.

Questions

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, thequestions which may be posed in an exemplary tournament contest whichmay include, in an exemplary embodiment, an exemplary head-to-headand/or or consolation round, may include multiple choice questions, andmay ideally include, e.g., but not limited to, 4, 5, less, and/or more,incorrect answers. Although the exemplary embodiment contemplatesmultiple-choice questions, as will be apparent to those skilled in theart, the invention is equally applicable to other well known questionssuch as, e.g., but not limited to, true/false, fill-in-the-blank,trivia, etc. For advanced games, according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention, questions may be grouped, e.g., but not limitedto, by topic, so that there may be games about, e.g., but not limitedto, specific subjects including sports, entertainment, media, content,news, current events, movies, television, etc.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, eachquestion may include, e.g., but not limited to, the following fields:

-   -   Question topic    -   Question difficulty    -   Question text    -   Number of answers    -   Correct answer    -   Incorrect answer 1    -   Incorrect answer 2    -   Incorrect answer n    -   Extra information expanding on the content of the question and        answer    -   Question expiration (i.e. each question may include further data        indicating, e.g., but not limited to, for how long the question        may be valid, a date when the question may be checked to see if        it may be still valid, or a flag indicating that it may never        expire, etc.).

While there may exist a general database of, e.g., but not limited to,sports-related and/or other questions to be used for the majority of thegames in the early weeks and months after launch of a tournamentcontest, such as, e.g., but not limited to, the Trivia Tower contestproduct available from CBS SportsLine of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. USA.According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, specialevents games may use their own customized set of questions. According toan exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the special eventgames can be created around special events such as, e.g., but notlimited to, sporting events (including, e.g., but not limited to, theOlympics, the Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament, etc.), TVbroadcasts, movies, news, current events, and/or other timely features(like a daily game based on information that appeared in columns postedon cbssportsline.com from, e.g., but not limited to, the previous day),etc. Ultimately, according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, trivia databases can be created (or bought) and a contest,according to an exemplary embodiment, can be run on virtually any topicimaginable including, e.g., but not limited to, a “grab-bag” of alltopics and/or specific topical groupings (such as, e.g., but not limitedto, CBS Trivia, SportsLine Trivia, Trivia, movie trivia, TV trivia,content trivia, etc.). A topical hierarchy, according to one exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, may be necessary to enable thesegroupings and meta-tagging of each question may be required.

While the actual quality of the questions, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, may not be relevant to thearchitecture, design and implementation of the present invention,question quality may be an important component of some games. Accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a good database ofquestions will allow for scaleability of a tournament to an increasinglylarge tournament contest. Tournament contest question maintenancefeatures according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention,may allow easy removal of questions as the questions lose theirrelevancy and become obsolete, as time passes. Thus, informationregarding the number of times a question has been used and thepercentage of times each answer has been guessed correctly, may begathered. Difficulty of question data may be used, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention, to retire questions fromuse. According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention,questions may be packaged for use in “questions you've surely seenbefore” games. Analysis may be performed, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, to determine if original questiondifficulty assessments should be updated (i.e., e.g., but not limitedto, a question deemed “difficult” might actually be, or become overtime, e.g., frequency of use, “easy” from). According to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, question difficulty may be used toorder questions in such a way that, e.g., but not limited to, laterrounds may use harder questions than earlier rounds of questions.

Game Setup

A Trivia Tower Game (or tournament contest, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention) may have the following parameters,to be set when the game may be created:

-   -   Game Id (not modifiable, just a way to uniquely identify the        game)    -   Game subject or topic, specified from a hierarchy of options    -   Game level (beginner, intermediate, advanced)    -   Minimum number of players    -   Maximum number of players    -   Room size    -   Seeded or random room groupings    -   Use of ghost players or automatic byes    -   Skill level for ghost players    -   Questions per round    -   Maximum points awarded for getting a question right in the        minimum amount of time    -   Maximum amount of time for answering each question    -   Last answer or 1^(st) answer only    -   Date and time when game may start    -   Whether a game may be public or private    -   Game password (for private games)    -   Whether a consolation game may be created

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, some ofthese parameters may be user-modifiable in games created by users. Foruser-created games, as selections may be made, the pragmaticimplications of the user selections may be clearly stated. According toan exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the likelihood ofpopulating the game and how long it may take to play the game to itsconclusion, may be considered and/or provided to the user. For example,see Tables 1 and 2 below for exemplary data which may be shared. Dynamicdefaults based on already-specified numbers may be provided, accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The main game setup page, according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention, may display existing games and may allow users tosearch for specific games. A game (or tournament contest) may be listedwith some of the game's attributes (such as, e.g., but not limited to,time it may start, number of players currently in it, maximum number ofplayers, room size, etc.) and a link to join the game if it hasn'tstarted yet.

This page may also allow users to create new games, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention. According to anotherexemplary embodiment of the present invention, the creation of games maybe allowed via an automated process, after selection of or definition ofa few simple rules (such as, e.g., but not limited to, how often, typesof games, scheduling, etc.).

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention,completed games may be archived, including, e.g., but not limited to,saving the most relevant information (such as, e.g., but not limited to,a winner, top x-number of finalists (e.g., 10), and associatedstatistics including, e.g., but not limited to, points). According toanother exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a list of thesegames may be available on a secondary page and the list may besearchable by date and user. This way, winners can prove to theirfriends that they won a particular game.

Lobby

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention,between the time a game may be created and the time that it may start,users may join the game. During this time, prior to commencement of thegame, in an exemplary embodiment, users may be placed in the game lobbywhere these users may, in an exemplary embodiment, see the names ofother users in the game. As the number of users grows, listing names ofall users may be difficult to impossible to display in a useful form. Inan exemplary embodiment, information regarding the numbers of usersparticipating, the contestants invited by the contestant, and/orinformation about the top N players, etc., may be shown instead.

The functionality of the lobby may include, according to anotherexemplary embodiment of the present invention:

-   -   Validating the game password for users joining private games    -   Allowing users to invite their friends (via, e.g., an        automatically generated message, a buddy list, etc.), via email,        via on-site alerts and any other alerting platform, Internet        chat, instant message, etc.    -   Allowing users to drop out of the game    -   Display the top N players (by trivia ranking) in the game so far    -   Chat with other users (e.g., in private games, within buddy        lists in private games, in public games, e.g., amongst leaders,        etc.). In one exemplary embodiment, pre-loaded chat and/or chat        with trusted/untrusted lists may be allowed.    -   A countdown timer indicating how long before the game may start    -   Right before the game may be about to start, the lobby window        may turn itself into the game window. In an exemplary        embodiment, the same client that is used for the game may handle        the lobby as well, so software loading problems may happen        before the user gets to the lobby, but not likely when the game        is starting.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, alist of invitees from each user may be displayed on the lobby page. Whenany invitee that a customer has invited to the game arrives in thatgame's lobby, that invitee may be highlighted as ” arrived” on theinviter's lobby list. If an invitee has been invited to the game by morethan one customer, the invitee may be shown in the lobby of eachinviter, according to another exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention,users that may try to join a game already in progress, may be allowed toaccess the game as observers only. An observer, according to oneexemplary embodiment, may have certain benefits over other viewers. Auser may be registered and may be logged in to join or create a game.

Game Setup

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, whenit is time for a game to start, the server may create a game, as long asit meets the minimum (or threshold) number of players requirement.Otherwise, in an exemplary embodiment, the game may be disbanded.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, thegame may start by seeding users 1 thru the number of players in thegame. The seeding, according to another exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention, may be based by the users' trivia ranking. A higherranking may result in a higher seeding. Ties, in an exemplaryembodiment, may be broken by a coin-flip (i.e. randomly).

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, thenumber of rounds in the game may be based on the number of players (P)and the room size (S). The number of rounds may be the integer X suchthat S^(x)>=P and S^(x-1)<P. For instance, with 13 players and a roomsize of 2, the number of rounds may be 4, because 2⁴=16>=13, and 23=<13.See Tables 1 and 2 below.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, thenumber of rooms in a round may be equal to the number of playersremaining divided by the room size. According to another exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, if this result may be not aninteger, for any round, additional ghost players may be added until itis, when the ghost player option may be turned on. So in the aboveexample, 3 ghost players may be added to get to 16 total players. Thatguarantees that every round may have an even number of players. Notethat number of ghost players to be added may be equal to the differencebetween a power of the room size and the total number of players.Alternatively, a bye may be provided in another exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, forseeded games, users may then be divided into rooms based on theirseeding. The seeding may be based on the users' trivia rankings, to bedescribed below. Ghost players may be seeded below all the real players,according to an exemplary embodiment. Thus players with higher seedingmay receive easier opponents, the goal being that if the results matchthe initial seeds, the final game may match up the best S players, whereS may be the room size. According to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention, ghost players may have a variable skill level, to beset when the game may be created. In an exemplary embodiment, ghostplayers may be worse on average than most real players.

Seeded players may be assigned to rooms in a snake-draft fashion,according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In thesame example above, the first room may have seeds 1 vs. 16, the secondroom may be 2 vs. 15, and so forth. If the room size may be 3, and theremay be 9 players, room 1 may be seeds 1, 6, 7, room 2 seeds 2, 5, 8 androom 3 seeds 3, 4, and 9. Note that this method may be fair for evenpowers, but for odd powers may be slightly biased towards the higherseeds.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, forrandomized games, each participant may be assigned seeding based on arandom number. Using the randomized seedings, game setup may then workthe same as a seeded game, in an exemplary embodiment.

Users may play directly against the other users in their same room.

In addition to setting up the initial match ups, the game initializationmay include the selection of the questions to ask, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention. These questions may beselected from the main questions database, perhaps filtering those thatmay be specific to a particular topic, for subject-based games. Thequestion set and order may be a property of the game based on the gameid (and the game topic, if one may be selected). The same question setand order may be repeatable whenever the same game id may be used.However, the actual question set may be random from one game to another,according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention,games that do not use ghost players may work the same way, except thatthe players matched up against a ghost player may instead get a “bye”into the next round. Those users may automatically win their roundwithout having to answer any questions correctly, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Round Play

Each round may include, e.g., but not limited to, a number of questions.According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the gameengine may have several states, including, e.g., but not limited to:

-   -   Waiting for the round to start    -   Asking question    -   Waiting for answer    -   Display correct answer    -   Waiting for end of round

When the round starts, the server may send a message to the clients withthe information about the opponents for that round, according to anexemplary embodiment. A short (10-20 second) delay may take place to letusers get ready for the next round, in an exemplary embodiment. Thispause can be used to display an ad to the users, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The tournament contest may then follow the ad, in an exemplaryembodiment, with a series of messages, one that may ask a question, onethat may provide the right answer and one that has the updated roundstandings. The client may send to the server the answer as selected bythe user, along with information as to how long it took for the questionto be answered.

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include gameplay asdepicted below in Table 3.

For questions answered correctly, the user may be awarded a number ofpoints based on how quickly it was answered, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention. The timer may start at the maximumpoints for about, e.g., but not limited to, 25% of the time and thenstart counting down, linearly, to 0, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention. According to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, the timer may reach 0 at the sametime that the time to answer the question expires. Note that it may notstart counting down from the maximum right away to give users a fairchance to get a perfect score, hence the 25% initial time delay. Theactual amount for this delay may be easily changed, but may notnecessarily be a game parameter, according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, ghostplayers may answer questions randomly, and may accrue points when theyanswer them correctly. The time to answer the question as well theanswer itself may be generated randomly, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention. Users playing ghost players maystill need to answer some questions correctly to beat them and moveforward, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.If not, the ghost player may move forward, in an embodiment. In anexemplary embodiment of the present invention, ghost players may beidentified as such in the standings area.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, when thetime to answer the question expires, the correct answer may beidentified, along with any additional tidbit of information availableabout the question. The additional information can be used to clarifythe answer or to provide addition color to the game, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, updatedstandings information may be sent to each client after every question.These standings may include all the players in the user's room, plus atop 10 list which may include players from all other rooms, in anexemplary embodiment. Standings for each user's invitees (up to TBD) mayalso be displayed, according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

At the end of a round, the user with the most points in each room maymove up and the user may be assigned a room in the next round, accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. This roomassignment may be predetermined based on the user's original seeding andmay not require a new seeding. According to one exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention, the tournament contest may be an NCAA-stylebracket. So the benefit for pulling an early-round upset, in anexemplary embodiment, may be an easier opponent than other morehighly-seeded players may have. According to another exemplaryembodiment, a playoff system may be used, such as, e.g., but not limitedto, an NFL-playoff system.

Note that all of this may assume that questions posed in each round maybe the same in each room. This may be required, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention, in order to run aconsolation room. However, if the consolation room is not being used,the questions can be randomized so that each room may be getting adifferent question each time, according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention. The random question method (or one or morealternative simplifications thereof) may be necessary to manage fraud asgames get larger and prizes are made available to the winners, in someexemplary embodiments.

In another exemplary embodiment, the system may include features toprevent software based agents from driving up prize levels by providingfor reverse Turing tests to ensure only human contestants areparticipating. In an exemplary embodiment, fraud by use of softwareagents to increase participation levels may be identified by usingunique contestant identifiers, such as, e.g., but not limited to, acontestant's tax ID number (which is needed for reporting a prize), toensure only one person is entered per tax ID number.

Collected Statistics (Stats)

A user's performance in a tournament contest, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, may be tracked, just like sportleagues may track their player statistics. The following statistics maybe collected, according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention:

-   -   Tournaments played    -   Tournaments won    -   Rounds played in tournaments won    -   Rounds played    -   Rounds won    -   Opponents played head to head (1 point for every other player in        a room you played in)    -   Opponents beat head to head (1 point for every other player in a        room you won)    -   Opponents played in tournaments (1 point for every other player        in a tournament you played in)    -   Opponents beat in tournaments (1 point for every other player in        a tournament you won)    -   Total points (accumulated from answering questions right)    -   Maximum number of points available (if you answered every        question right and in the minimum possible amount of time, you        would have these points)    -   Questions answered    -   Questions answered correctly    -   Most players beat in a tournament

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, resultsfrom consolation rounds may not be collected, nor may they affect futurerankings.

Rankings

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, users mayhave trivia rankings. A trivia ranking may be a number, that may defaultto 0 for new users, according to an exemplary embodiment. This numbermay increase as the user plays more trivia games, in an exemplaryembodiment. The formula for the ranking may be based on a user's statsas collected from previous trivia playing experience, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention:ranking=int(total_points*(1+points_avg+rounds_pct+tourney_(—) pct)/50)where total_points may be the total points accumulated by the user.points_avg=total_points/max_pointsrounds_(—) pct=rounds_won/rounds_playedtourney_(—) pct=(tourneys_won+tourney_rounds_won−1)/touneys_playedConsolation Room

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, when auser may be eliminated from a game that has been setup with theconsolation room enabled, the user may be moved, at the user's option,into this room. In this room, the losers may be able to play againsteach other, according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, receiving the same set of questions as the main bracket is,so that they can compare their scores.

To make things fair, in one exemplary embodiment, when a user joins theconsolation room, the user may bring with him his total pointsaccumulated in the main bracket. This way, a user that was eliminated inthe 4th round may be not at a disadvantage to one that was eliminated inthe 1st round.

The standings in the consolation room may show the by-round scores aswell as overall game scores for all users in the consolation room,according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Thestandings may also show the leaders in the current round of the mainbracket game, in one exemplary embodiment.

As mentioned earlier, in an exemplary embodiment, the results fromconsolation rounds may not be collected, nor may they affect futurerankings.

If a user chooses not to join the consolation game, the user may remainin the game as observers (to be described later), according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention. The observer may stillreceive a standings update for the main bracket game and the observercan check out how a player may be doing, according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

The number of players in a consolation round may be limited to apractical limit, according to one exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention. When this limit is exceeded, the lowest scoring players maybe kicked off the consolation round, according to one exemplaryembodiment. This may only occur at the end of a round, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention. Players that may bebooted out of the consolation game can remain in the game as observers,according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Observers

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, users mayjoin a game already in progress as observers. The observers may receivestandings updates just as those in the game, in an exemplary embodiment.In an exemplary embodiment, the observers may be able to join theconsolation room if one may be available and if there may be room foradditional players.

While in observer mode, users may be able to track what other users maybe doing, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.In this mode the users may see how their friends may be answeringquestions and how they may be doing in their game. To avoid cheating,the users may only see the selections made by another user after thequestion answering period has ended, although the question itself mayappear from the beginning, according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

Users do not have to be registered to be observers, although they maynot be able to join a consolation game if they are not registered,according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Statistics and Standings

User statistics (“stats”) may be available for all to see in an area ofthe site, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.The presentation of the stats may be similar to current sports sortablestats pages available from CBS Sportsline.com, according to an exemplaryembodiment. The concept of a “season” may exist so that users can seetheir stats accumulate for periods, according to an exemplary embodimentof the present invention. This lets latecomers, in an exemplaryembodiment, play on an even playing field with those that have beenaround longer.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, astandings page may display the top ranked players, both all-time and byseason.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, daily,weekly, monthly, year-to-date and all-time “leaderboards” may also beavailable (categories may include any of various appropriate data to betracked about contestant participation and performance).

Records

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a fewrecords may be maintained to add yet more depth to the product. Therecords tracked may include, according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention:

-   -   Best X-question round score (for each value of X)    -   Best X-question game score (for each value of X)    -   Largest Tower (the one with the most players)

Various other records may be tracked as will be apparent to thoseskilled in the relevant art.

Communication

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, thetournament contest may include client-server communication, which may be2-way and asynchronous, in an exemplary embodiment. The communicationmay also be fast, in an exemplary embodiment. Thus, packet size may bekept to the bare minimum and a simple protocol may be used, according toan exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

According to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, thecommunication between the server and client may be secure. A user mayattempt to reverse engineer the client, and may modify it or create anew one that may give the user the ability to cheat. Thus securecommunication between the client and server is an important aspect of anexemplary embodiment of the present invention, and an interestingchallenge since Java and Flash decompilers may exist.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, theclient may be the one that provides the server with the amount of time auser took to answer a question. Thus, it may be very important that theserver authenticate the client as being an original, unmodified versionof the client software, in an exemplary embodiment. Since the client maybe responsible for the answer timing, it may be not 100% required thatall clients be perfectly synchronized, in an exemplary embodiment.However, the differences between clients need to be less than the timeto answer a question, in one exemplary embodiment.

Capacity and Scalability

The tournament contest game server, according to an exemplary embodimentof the present invention, may need to be able to handle many games atthe same time. Some games may include, e.g., but not limited to, smallgroups of users, and be created by other users. Other exemplaryembodiments of games may include CBS DM sponsored events that may growto several million users. A tournament contest, according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention; may be able to be handledby multiple game servers.

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include a methodwhich may be used to control, e.g., but not limited to, datatransmission to, e.g., facilitate a large scale, online, massivemultiplayer game. As a result of this method, in an exemplaryembodiment, data transmission packets may be the same size regardless ofthe number of players. Thus, whether 1024 players or 1 million playersor participants in total are playing a game, the system according to anexemplary embodiment may have a predictable data delivery system.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the method may proceed as follows:

1. Players may be randomly assigned to virtual rooms when they register.

2. At the closure of the lobby, the players may be merged together witha “best fit” algorithm. This may mean that the algorithm may compact allthe rooms to a minimal number with a pre-determined capacity limitation.(In an exemplary embodiment, the predetermined capacity limitation maybe 1024 players/room=1K).

3. Each room may then be populated to the pre-determined room capacitywith “Ghost” and/or bye players. As a part of step 2 above, there maynever be more “Ghost” players than “Real” players.

4. Each room's Players may then be seeded within the room, in anexemplary embodiment. Seedings may be based on a Player Rating system,which may, in an exemplary embodiment, be a calculation that CBSSportsLine may assign based on player performance. The matchups withinthe room may then be created bracket style, i.e. highest-rated playersmay play lowest-rated players, in an exemplary embodiment.

4.5 Once players are assigned, in an exemplary embodiment, a broadcasttransmission may be sent to the client applications, which may have beenpreviously assigned the virtual rooms in step 1 above, and may bereassigned players in the new organization described in step 4 above.

5. Due to Step 2 above, in an exemplary embodiment, every room may havea “power of 2” (2ˆ×) number players, and there may be always a “power of2” (2ˆ×) number of rooms. At the end of the round, winners from adjacentrooms may be merged creating a new room in a new round with winners ofthe previous rounds. Because each room may be composed of a power of twoplayer, in an exemplary embodiment, and these players may be playinghead-to-head, exactly half the players of each room may move into thenext room. Of course in alternative embodiments which may not behead-to-head, different ratios of players may move on.

Note: During this process the players in the consolation round, in anexemplary embodiment, may not change rooms because they may not beinvolved in matchups.

Availability/Reliability

According to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, thesystem may include availability/reliability features. As contestantsbecome passionate about playing, they also become passionate aboutlosing points/rounds/etc if there are technical problems, and thusuptime/availability/reliability may be crucial to success of a contest,according to an exemplary embodiment.

Reporting

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, thesystem may include reporting. Also, a user may get a product signuprecord the first time when the user plays one of these games, but notone record for each game played, according to an exemplary embodiment.

Client

The tournament contest, according to an exemplary embodiment may includeinteresting content including, e.g., but not limited to, graphics andsounds, easy to use interface, quick response and proper feedback. Anexemplary embodiment of the client, may include the followingcomponents:

-   -   Main screen, where the questions and answers may be displayed,        along with the timer, the selected answer and the points        awarded. This area may also be used to display video ads if        necessary. Users in observer mode can see the answers selected        by specific users here.    -   Standings area, where the current round standings may be        displayed and updated. This area may be visible at all times and        may update after every question.    -   Overall standings, where the top X scores from the game may be        displayed. This area can update less frequently than the other        standings area, as collecting the data from all players may take        more time.    -   Consolation Round standings, for games with this feature. This        area can be switched between consolation and overall standings.    -   Chat area where users can chat with their opponents in their own        room. Smaller and private games may have a chat room for all        users in the game.        Some additional client details:    -   We must specify “Minimum SUGGESTED client performance” required        to participate in a game. This may be a marketing and customer        service requirement.    -   The timer countdown may go down in regular intervals, at least        once every three seconds. More frequent updates would be nice as        long as it does not adversely affect the performance of the        client machine. The user may not be penalized for having a        slower processor that does not recognize the inputs fast enough        because it's updating the timer.    -   The client may be responsible for sending the server the amount        of time it took the user to answer the question. See the note        above about security in this transmission.    -   The client may use as much resolution as possible to specify the        time it took the user to answer the question. This time may be        measured from the point where the question was displayed to the        user to when the user hit the answer button. The maximum        available time resolution in the client may be used. This may be        at least tenths of a second, although most machines now may        provide accurate information to a millisecond resolution.    -   If a “last answer” game, the user may be able to change his        answer in the middle of the question. But if a change may be        made, the points awarded may be based on the last change made by        the user. The user may not lose points however if he/she clicks        on the answer button a second time with the same answer as the        one currently selected. (If however the user changes his answer        from 2 to 4 and back to 2, he may receive points based on the        last time he selected the 2 answer).    -   For “1^(st) answer only” games, no answer changes may be allowed        after the 1^(st) answer may be provided. If the answer may be        wrong, the user gets no points.    -   The room standings area may display the players in the room,        sorted by current round score, and listed along with their        answer for the last question, the points awarded by the last        question, and total points for the tournament. Correct answers        may be listed in one color while wrong ones in another.    -   Players may be identified by a user-modifiable handle, which may        default to their first name and last name initial (e.g. ‘Tony        F’). It may not display user id's. A separate customization page        may allow users to change their handle.    -   The overall standings area may display the top players ranked by        total points in the tournament. For each player, the player        handle, total points, current round, points for current round        may be listed. The number of players listed may be at least 10        and as many as can fit on the screen.    -   The consolation room standings may display the top players in        the consolation room ranked by total points. For each player,        the player handle, total points, rounds lasted in the main        bracket game, and points for the current round may be listed.        The number of players listed may be at least 10, and as many as        can fit on the screen.    -   Video ads may be displayed between rounds provided that we can        insure that the video ad may stop playing when the first        question may be sent to the client (ideally we would give some        more thought to the advertising/sponsorship requirements).    -   Users may be able to turn off the chat area to stop getting        those messages if they find them distracting.

Exemplary Embodiment of Computer Environment

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary computer system that may be used inimplementing an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Specifically, FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a computersystem 100 that may be used in computing devices such as, e.g., but notlimited to, client or server, etc. according to an exemplary embodimentof the present invention. FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary embodiment of acomputer system that may be used as client device, or a server device,etc. The present invention (or any part(s) or function(s) thereof) maybe implemented using hardware, software, firmware, or a combinationthereof and may be implemented in one or more computer systems or otherprocessing systems. In fact, in one exemplary embodiment, the inventionmay be directed toward one or more computer systems capable of carryingout the functionality described herein. An example of a computer system100 is shown in FIG. 1, depicting an exemplary embodiment of a blockdiagram of an exemplary computer system useful for implementing thepresent invention. Specifically, FIG. 1 illustrates an example computer100, which in an exemplary embodiment may be, e.g., (but not limited to)a personal computer (PC) system running an operating system such as,e.g., (but not limited to) MICROSOFT® WINDOWS® NT/98/2000/XP/CE/ME/etc.available from MICROSOFT® Corporation of Redmond, Wash., U.S.A. However,the invention may not be limited to these platforms. Instead, theinvention may be implemented on any appropriate computer system runningany appropriate operating system. In one exemplary embodiment, thepresent invention may be implemented on a computer system operating asdiscussed herein. An exemplary computer system, computer 100 is shown inFIG. 1. Other components of the invention, such as, e.g., (but notlimited to) a computing device, a communications device, mobile phone, atelephony device, a telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), apersonal computer (PC), a handheld PC, an interactive television (iTV),a digital video recorder (DVD), client workstations, thin clients, thickclients, proxy servers, network communication servers, remote accessdevices, client computers, server computers, routers, web servers, data,media, audio, video, telephony or streaming technology servers, etc.,may also be implemented using a computer such as that shown in FIG. 1.Services may be provided on demand using, e.g., but not limited to, aninteractive television (iTV), a video on demand system (VOD), and via adigital video recorder (DVR), or other on demand viewing system.

The computer system 100 may include one or more processors, such as,e.g., but not limited to, processor(s) 104. The processor(s) 104 may beconnected to a communication infrastructure (e.g., but not limited to, acommunications bus, cross-over bar, or network, etc.). Various exemplarysoftware embodiments may be described in terms of this exemplarycomputer system. After reading this description, it will become apparentto a person skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implement theinvention using other computer systems and/or architectures.

Computer system 100 may include a display interface 102 that mayforward, e.g., but not limited to, graphics, text, and other data, etc.,from the communication infrastructure (or from a frame buffer, etc., notshown) for display on the display unit 120.

The computer system 100 may also include, e.g., but may not be limitedto, a main memory 106, random access memory (RAM), and a secondarymemory 108, etc. The secondary memory 108 may include, for example, (butnot limited to) a hard disk drive 110 and/or a removable storage drive114, representing a floppy diskette drive, a magnetic tape drive, anoptical disk drive, a compact disk drive CD-ROM, etc. The removablestorage drive 114 may, e.g., but not limited to, read from and/or writeto a removable storage unit in a well known manner. Removable storageunit, also called a program storage device or a computer programproduct, may represent, e.g., but not limited to, a floppy disk,magnetic tape, optical disk, compact disk, etc. which may be read fromand written to by removable storage drive 114. As will be appreciated,the removable storage unit may include a computer usable storage mediumhaving stored therein computer software and/or data.

In alternative exemplary embodiments, secondary memory 108 may includeother similar devices for allowing computer programs or otherinstructions to be loaded into computer system 100. Such devices mayinclude, for example, a removable storage unit and an interface 122.Examples of such may include a program cartridge and cartridge interface(such as, e.g., but not limited to, those found in video game devices),a removable memory chip (such as, e.g., but not limited to, an erasableprogrammable read only memory (EPROM), or programmable read only memory(PROM) and associated socket, and other removable storage units andinterfaces 122, which may allow software and data to be transferred fromthe removable storage unit to computer system 100.

Computer 100 may also include an input device such as, e.g., (but notlimited to) a mouse or other pointing device such as a digitizer, and akeyboard or other data entry device (none of which are labeled).

Computer 100 may also include output devices, such as, e.g., (but notlimited to) display 130, and display interface 102. Computer 100 mayinclude input/output (I/O) devices such as, e.g., (but not limited to)communications interface 124, cable and communications path, etc. Thesedevices may include, e.g., but not limited to, a network interface card,and modems (neither are labeled). Communications interface 124 may allowsoftware and data to be transferred between computer system 100 andexternal devices.

In this document, the terms “computer program medium” and “computerreadable medium” may be used to generally refer to media such as, e.g.,but not limited to removable storage drive 114, a hard disk installed inhard disk drive 112, and signals, etc. These computer program productsmay provide software to computer system 100. The invention may bedirected to such computer program products.

References to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “example embodiment,”“various embodiments,” etc., may indicate that the embodiment(s) of theinvention so described may include a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic, but not every embodiment necessarily includes theparticular feature, structure, or characteristic. Further, repeated useof the phrase “in one embodiment,” or “in an exemplary embodiment,” donot necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although they may.

In the following description and claims, the terms “coupled” and“connected,” along with their derivatives, may be used. It should beunderstood that these terms are not intended as synonyms for each other.Rather, in particular embodiments, “connected” may be used to indicatethat two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contactwith each other. “Coupled” may mean that two or more elements are indirect physical or electrical contact. However, “coupled” may also meanthat two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, butyet still co-operate or interact with each other.

An algorithm is here, and generally, considered to be a self-consistentsequence of acts or operations leading to a desired result. Theseinclude physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, thoughnot necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical ormagnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined,compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times,principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals asbits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers or the like.It should be understood, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the followingdiscussions, it is appreciated that throughout the specificationdiscussions utilizing terms such as “processing,” “computing,”“calculating,” “determining,” or the like, refer to the action and/orprocesses of a computer or computing system, or similar electroniccomputing device, that manipulate and/or transform data represented asphysical, such as electronic, quantities within the computing system'sregisters and/or memories into other data similarly represented asphysical quantities within the computing system's memories, registers orother such information storage, transmission or display devices.

In a similar manner, the term “processor” may refer to any device orportion of a device that processes electronic data from registers and/ormemory to transform that electronic data into other electronic data thatmay be stored in registers and/or memory. A “computing platform” maycomprise one or more processors.

Embodiments of the present invention may include apparatuses forperforming the operations herein. An apparatus may be speciallyconstructed for the desired purposes, or it may comprise a generalpurpose device selectively activated or reconfigured by a program storedin the device.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the invention may be implementedusing a combination of any of, e.g., but not limited to, hardware,firmware and software, etc.

Interactive Television Exemplary Embodiment

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary embodiment of the invention where thecontestant may be accessing the tournament content via an interactivetelevision (ITV) environment 200. The contestant's exemplary iTVenvironment is described below, according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention. Although described below in a particularenvironment, the contestants device may be implemented in a variety ofother environments.

ITV environment 200 in an exemplary embodiment may include a contentprovider network operation center (NOC) 201, a plurality of ITV clients216 a, 216 b, and a content distributor NOC 208. The content providerNOC 208, ITV clients 216 a-b, and content distributor NOC may be coupledto one another by content distributor network facilities 215. The ITVenvironment 200 of FIG. 2 also illustrates, in an exemplary embodiment,a distribution channel 217 that may be used to broadcast content to theITV clients 216 a, 216 b from the content providers over the contentdistribution network 115, and a backchannel 218 that may be used toreceive interactive responses from the ITV clients 216 a, 216 b at,e.g., the content provider. The back channel 218 may be in an inband, orout of band channel. The back channel 218 may be separate from thedistribution channel 216. The back channel 218 may use circuitconnections, or packet switched communication.

Content provider NOC 201 may include, e.g., a software module 202 and amiddleware module 203 running on top of a hardware module 204. Thehardware module 204 may include, e.g., a processor and associatedmemory. The content provider NOC 201 may also include a master controlsystem 205 that may be used to assemble portions of programming servicecontent for distribution. The portions of programming service contentmay be accessed using various known methods from a content storagefacility 207, onto which the content may have been previously stored.The content provider NOC 201 may also include a distribution uplink 106that may be used to upload content to the content distributor fordistribution to ITV clients 216 a, 216 b. Of course, the contentprovider in another exemplary embodiment, may communicate directly withITV clients 216 a, 216 b. For example, the clients 216 a, 216 b maycommunicate via a communications link directly to the content providervia a protocol such as, e.g., but not limited to, simple mail transportprotocol (SMTP), hyper text markup protocol (HTTP), etc.

Content distributor NOC 208 can include a software module 209, amiddleware module 210, and an access control system 211 a including,e.g., a conditional access subsystem 211 b, running on a hardware module212. A distribution downlink 213 can be used, in an exemplaryembodiment, to download content from the content providers to thecontent distributor NOC 208, for temporary storage in content storagefacility 214, prior to distribution directly to, or via the contentdistributor network 215, to ITV clients 216 a, 216 b for viewing byviewers.

As shown in FIG. 3, ITV client 216 a may include, in an exemplaryembodiment, a television 301, a receiver 302, and an interactive remotedevice 307 such as a remote control. Receiver 302 can include, in anexemplary embodiment, ITV platform 303 that can include, e.g., asoftware module 304, a middleware module 305, an access control module306 a including, e.g., a conditional access subsystem 306 b (such as asmart card), and hardware module 308. The hardware module 308 mayinclude a processor and associated memory. The various modules may becombined into a set-top box. The set-top box may be configured to recordprogramming services. As shown in FIG. 3, receiver 302 can be configuredto receive content from content provider NOC 201 via, e.g., a contentdistributor network 215 and content distributor NOC 208, or directly viainterface equipment, for example. The ITV platform 303 of FIG. 3 can bethought of as an example environment that could be used for a contentdistributor that uses a cable television (CATV) network. Content may bedistributed to ITV 216 a, 216 b from the content provider over contentdistributor facilities as shown in line 217. Dotted line 218 representsan exemplary back channel 218 for sending interactive information to thecontent provider. The back channel is typically provided via a phonemodem or via access to broadband.

Alternatively, as is shown in environment 400 in FIG. 4, receiver 302can be configured to receive content from content provider NOC 201 viacontent distributor network 215 and content distributor NOC 208 viaantenna 310, such as a satellite dish or the like.

The interactive television system described herein is exemplary only.The invention can also be implemented in many other types of interactivesystems. For example, the content provider may communicate directly withthe ITV clients 216 a. Programming services, video and interactivetelevision content may be provided directly to the viewer. Also, a backchannel may be provided directly from the ITV client 216 a to thecontent provider, without passing through a content distributor. A backchannel is not necessary in all embodiments of the invention.

As will be understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art,content provider NOC 201 can distribute content via distribution uplink206 to content distributor NOC 208. Content distributor NOC 208 canreceive the content from content provider NOC 201 via distributiondownlink 213. Content distributor NOC 208 can then distribute content toITV clients 216 a, 216 b through content distributor network facilities115. Examples of content distributors include, e.g., COMCAST CORPORATIONof Philadelphia, Pa., USA, DIRECTV of El Segundo, Calif. USA, ECHOSTARCOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION of Englewood, Colo., USA, and TIME WARNERCABLE of Stamford, Conn. USA.

The content provided to the ITV clients 216A may include a number ofchannels, such as broadcast network channels, cable channels,subscription channels, etc. These types of channels may be referred toas linear channels. Other types of programming services may also beprovided, such as, e.g., on demand services. Exemplary forms of ondemand services include, e.g., but are not limited to, a video on demand(VOD) service, a subscription VOD (SVOD) service, etc. Other on demandservices may include any of various digital video recorder (DVR)offerings by which a viewer can record and view digital video content.An exemplary programming service program may include, e.g., a movie, ora series, that may be made available by a programming service such as,e.g., CBS, broadcasting programming services, or pay programmingservices such as, e.g., but not limited to, SHOWTIME. Programs may alsoinclude, e.g., high definition (HD) programs, VOD and SVOD programs, andprograms stored on DVRs. Viewers that have advanced set top boxes may beable to access robust digital video recording and playback capabilities.

As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, access by users suchas, e.g., but not limited to, participants, and contestants, may occurvia devices, devices such as, e.g., but not limited to, communicationsdevices, computing devices, telephony, mobile phone, PDA, handheld,laptop, notebook, iTV, location based systems, GPS, and content may bedistributed over various network platform types including, e.g., but notlimited to, voice, data, satellite, radio, digital broadband, ultrawideband (UWB), cable television (CATV), wired communications networks,wireless communications networks, direct broadcast satellite television,multichannel multipoint distribution service (MMDS), wireless fidelity(WI-FI), IEEE 802.11 WLAN networks, wireless wide area networks, IEEE802.16 WWAN networks, (WI-MAX), broadband over power line (BOPL), mobilecommunications voice and/or data communications networks, cellularnetworks, analog and/or digital cellular networks, mobile networks,packet switched networks, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) networks,2G, 3G, 4G, nG networks, using various access methods including, e.g.,but not limited to, FDMA, CDMA, GSM, GPRS, etc. networks and protocols.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot 500 fromwithin an exemplary Trivia Tower game. The graphical user interfaceshows the trivia question 501 posed to the participants. The screenshot500 also shows a buddy list 502 that may be displayed in someembodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot 600 fromwithin an exemplary Trivia Tower game. The screenshot 600 shows anexemplary result 601 to the question. In this exemplary embodiment, oneof the contestants has been awarded 90 points for correctly answeringthe question.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot 700 fromwithin an exemplary Trivia Tower game that may show the standings 701for the participants in the contest. In some embodiments, only the topscoring contestants are depicted in the standings list 701.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot 800 fromwithin an exemplary Trivia Tower game that may contain an advertisement801.

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot 900 fromwithin an exemplary Trivia Tower game that may contain a timer orcountdown 901 and a listing of the number of players participating 902.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot 1000 fromwithin an exemplary Trivia Tower game that may contain an introductionto how the game is played 1001, one or more advertisements 1002, a login identification screen 1003, a schedule of games 1004, and/or astandings list 1005.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot 1100 fromwithin an exemplary Trivia Tower game that may contain a log in area1101. In some embodiments, a participant must login before participatingin the contest and/or game.

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot 1200 fromwithin an exemplary Trivia Tower game that may contain a button 1201within the graphical user interface that controls entrance into the gameor contest.

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot 1300 fromwithin an exemplary Trivia Tower game that may contain a log in area1301. In some embodiments, a participant must login before participatingin the contest and/or game.

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a screenshot 1400 fromwithin an exemplary Trivia Tower game that may contain a standings list1401.

While various embodiments of the present invention have been describedabove, it should be understood that they have been presented by way ofexample only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of thepresent invention should not be limited by any of the above-describedexemplary embodiments, but should instead be defined only in accordancewith the following claims and their equivalents. TABLE 1 Tiered Levels -Exemplary Prizes at Participant Levels Rounds No. of Participants Prize(or equivalent) 1 2 — 2 4 — 3 8 — 4 16 — 5 32 — 6 64 — 7 128 — 8 256 — 9512 — 10 1,024 $25 Gift Certificate for MVP.com 11 2,048 $25 GiftCertificate for MVP.com 12 4,096 $50 Gift Certificate for MVP.com 138,192 $50 Gift Certificate for Circuit City 14 16,384 $100 GiftCertificate for Circuit City 15 32,768 Toshiba 32 inch Flat screen TV 1665,536 Home Theater system worth $2,500 17 131,072 $5,000 cash 18262,144 $10,000 cash 19 524,288 $20,000 cash 20 1,048,576 Brand newToyota Prius

TABLE 2 Tiered Levels - Exemplary Numbers of Players shown as ExemplaryRounds by Exemplary Contest Groupings Rounds Contestants 2 Contestants 3Contestants 4 Contestants 5 Contestants 10 1 2 3 4 5 10 2 4 9 16 25 1003 8 27 64 125 1,000 4 16 81 256 625 10,000 5 32 243 1,024 3,125 100,0006 64 729 4,096 15,625 1,000,000 7 128 2,187 16,384 78,125 10,000,000 8256 6,561 65,536 390,625 100,000,000 9 512 19,683 262,144 1,953,1251,000,000,000 10 1,024 59,049 1,048,576 9,765,625 10,000,000,000 112,048 177,147 4,194,304 48,828,125 100,000,000,000 12 4,096 531,44116,777,216 244,140,625 1,000,000,000,000 13 8,192 1,594,323 67,108,8641,220,703,125 10,000,000,000,000 14 16,384 4,782,969 268,435,4566,103,515,625 100,000,000,000,000 15 32,768 14,348,907 1,073,741,82430,517,578,125 1,000,000,000,000,000 16 65,536 43,046,721 4,294,967,296152,587,890,625 10,000,000,000,000,000 17 131,072 129,140,16317,179,869,184 762,939,453,125 100,000,000,000,000,000 18 262,144387,420,489 68,719,476,736 3,814,697,265,625 1,000,000,000,000,000,00019 524,288 1,162,261,467 274,877,906,944 19,073,486,328,12510,000,000,000,000,000,000 20 1,048,576 21 2,097,152 22 4,194,304 238,388,608

TABLE 3 Exemplary Gameplay Start End Duration Front end Back end minus 6hours ROS ads are used to promote upcoming tower minus 1 hour 60 minsLink appears on Splash page saying that the lobby is open. Users cansign in. Home page ads promote that lobby has opened 0 60 mins Countdownon Splash page and lobby to lockdown. 0 Tower Locks and no new users areallowed in 0 30 secs 30 secs Message is displayed showing Aggregation ofusers happens. what the users are playing for and API is called to getquestions from how many rounds they will have to database win to getthere 30 secs 55 secs 25 secs The tale of the tape is displayed to theuser 55 secs 1 min 5 secs Message is displayed advising the user to getready for Q1. Round 1 is played - See Below Video ad for next round isbeing downloaded x mins Final result is shown for the Round 0 10 secs 10secs Different messages are shown to the winner and loser in Tournamentplay 10 secs 40 secs 30 secs Video is played 40 secs 45 secs 5 secs Getready for Round 2 45 secs 70 secs 25 secs Tale of the tape is shown forTournament play. Consolation players remain with Get ready 70 secs 75secs 5 secs Message is displayed advising the user to get ready for Q1.75 secs Next round begins X Question 1 is displayed 2 secs Countdownclock begins User selects answer 12 secs Countdown clock ends 12 secs 17secs 5 secs Your answer is displayed and . . . 17 secs 30 secs Thecorrect answer is displayed along with tidbit 22 secs 30 secs Opponentsanswer is displayed 30 secs 35 secs 5 secs Standings page is shown 35secs 40 secs 5 secs Get ready for question 2 40 secs Next questionstarts

1. A method comprising: a) providing a game; b) allowing at least oneparticipant in said game to invite at least one additional participantto said game; and c) providing an incentive to the winner of said game,wherein a value of said incentive increases dependent upon a totalnumber of the participants in said game.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising: d) providing an indication of growth of said valueof said incentive as said total number of the participants increases. 3.The method of claim 2, wherein said indication comprises at least oneof: a graphical indication; an image; a video image; an animated image;a graphical indication; a multi-dimensional indication; atwo-dimensional indication; a three-dimensional indication; a pyramid; acone; a cylindrical; a tower; a polygon; a triangle; and/or a rectangle.4. The method of claim 1, wherein said game comprises at least one of:an interactive game; a tournament, a skill game, a tournament withprizing, a tournament contest, a massively multiplayer online (MMO)game; and/or a contest.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein saidinteractive tournament contest comprises at least one of: head-to-head,round robin, three-way, four-way, five-way, six-way, seven-way,eight-way, nine-way, ten-way and/or multiple-way pairings.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein said game comprises a massively multiplayer online(MMO) game.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said incentive comprisesat least one of: a monetary prize; a prize; an award; a coupon; a gift;a trip; a discount; a ticket; an event; a sporting event; anentertainment event; access to content; audio content; video content;music; movies; programming; a phone; a car; a vehicle; and/or anautomobile.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least oneof: d) tracking performance in said game of invited participants of agiven participant; and/or e) providing said performance of the invitedparticipants to the given participant.
 9. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid (b) comprises at least one of: allowing the at least oneparticipant to invite a plurality of additional participants at onetime; allowing the at least one participant to maintain a buddy list ofadditional participants; and/or allowing the at least one participant totrack performance of the buddy list.
 10. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid (a) comprises at least one of: providing a countdown to start clockto the participants; and/or providing a separately running version of acountdown clock.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein said (a) comprises:providing an indication of the approaching time of at least one oflockdown, closure and/or commencement of said game.
 12. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said (a) comprises at least one of: providing an audioindication when an opponent of the participant has answered a givenquestion; and/or providing a visual indication when the opponent of theparticipant opponent has answered the given question.
 13. The method ofclaim 1 1, wherein said commencement indication comprises at least oneof: an audio indication, a video indication, a graphical indication, animage indication, a musical indication, and/or a crescendo musicalindication.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein said tournament contestcomprises at least one of: a plurality of questions; a plurality ofrounds; a plurality of rounds comprising a plurality of questions; atimed question; a timed round; a plurality of timed rounds comprising aplurality of timed questions; a round of at least one of: at least onequestion, 2 questions, 3 questions, 4 questions, 5 questions, 6questions, 7 questions, 8 questions, 9 questions, 10 questions, and/ormultiple questions; a room; a segment; a fill in the blank question; amultiple choice question; and/or a true and/or false question.
 15. Themethod of claim 1, wherein points in said game are earned by the atleast one participant by at least one of: answering a question,answering a question faster than another, incorrectly answering aquestion, incorrectly answering a question and receiving negative ofsaid points, correctly answering a question, correctly answering aquestion prior to completion of a timer, correctly answering a questionprior to another of the at least one participants, and/or correctlyanswering a question faster than another of the at least oneparticipants.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein said tournament contestcomprises at least one of: providing a head-to-head game; providing amulti-way game; providing a head-to-head tournament; providing ahead-to-head bracketed pairing; providing an online tournament;providing a networked game; providing a tournament; providing a contest;providing a round-robin game; providing a massively multiplayer onlinegame; providing a web-based tournament; providing an interactivetelevision-based tournament; providing a single elimination tournament;providing at least a double elimination tournament; providing aconsolation round; providing a consolation round wherein winning is onlydependent on total points earned in a tournament; a multi-platform game;a mobile game; and/or providing a consolation round with multipleparticipants in a one-to-many contest.
 17. The method of claim 1,wherein said (b) comprises at least one of: providing the at least oneparticipant an indication of points earned in at least one of a round,and/or said tournament; providing an indication of points earned by acompetitor; and/or providing the at least one game an indication ofpoints earned by the at least one additional participant invited by theat least one participant.
 18. The method of claim 1, wherein said (b)comprises at least one of: providing a buddy list to the at least oneparticipant; allowing the creation of an address book from which toinvite other participants; allowing configuring of an avatar; allowing atale of the tape; allowing a side-by-side comparison of at least twoparticipants; and/or providing an avatar to the at least oneparticipant.
 19. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least oneof: providing statistics about performance of the at least oneparticipant; providing results of said game; providing results of atournament contest; providing at least one top performance of the atleast one participants; providing an electronic notification of resultsof a tournament contest; providing at least one of an email, an instantmessage, a short message system (SMS) message, a multimedia messagingservice (MMS) and/or a wireless notification of results of a tournamentcontest; providing a list of the performance of the top ten of the atleast one participants; and/or providing performance results to the atleast one participant from at least one of said tournament and/or aprevious tournament.
 20. The method of claim 1, further comprising atleast one of: providing an advertisement (ad) during at least one of:before, between, and/or during one or more rounds of said tournamentcontest; providing a banner ad; providing a video ad; providing an audioad; providing an animated ad; providing content; providing audiocontent; and/or providing video content.
 21. The method of claim 1,further comprising: providing a schedule of at least one of a currentgame, a past game, a future game, a current tournament, a pasttournament and/or a future tournament.
 22. The method of claim 1,further comprising: providing, in the event of an odd number ofparticipants, at least one of: a bye, a token participant, a ghostparticipant, a computer-generated participant, a bench warmerparticipant, a sacrificial lamb participant, and/or a software agentparticipant.
 23. The method of claim 1, further comprising: enabling athird party comprising at least one of a business, an individual, aconsumer, a charity, and/or an entity, to conduct said tournamentcontest comprising at least one of: receiving a selection of a skinoption; enabling a mod; receiving a third party sponsored prize;receiving a fee from the third party; receiving avatar configurabilityinformation; receiving options for creation of a new game; receiving asetup for a game; receiving a request for a type of game; and/or sharingrevenue sharing with the third party.
 24. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: enabling collaboration between two or more participantscomprising providing at least one of: a billboard; a short messagesystem (SMS); a mobile message; an invitation to a friend; an email to afriend; a message; a notification; an alert; an internet message; aBLOG; a message board; an Internet chat session; an instant message; achat room; an email; and/or a voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP)session.
 25. The method of claim 1, further comprising: an applicationenabling provision of said game, said application providing at least oneof: a message; a program on a computer readable medium, a downloadableprogram, an applet, a web-enabled application, a mobile application,BREW application; a networked application; a massively multimedia (MMO)and/or a JAVA application.
 26. The method of claim 1, wherein saidmethod is performed on at least one of: a browser-based system; astandalone workstation-based system; a client-server based system; aserver-based system; and/or an application service provider (ASP)-basedsystem.
 27. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is used forattracting users including at least one of: attracting non-registerednew subscribers; attracting traffic from existing subscribers;attracting affinity participation; attracting activity; attractingvisitors to a website; attracting demand for content; attracting pagehits; attracting page use; attracting sponsorship; attractingadvertising; driving brand recognition; and/or attracting live people.28. The method of claim 26, wherein the users being attracted are beingattracted to at least one of: an advertisement (AD) a website; abroadcast; a program; content; a viewing of content; and/or playback ofcontent.
 29. The method of claim 1, wherein said c) comprises at leastone of: providing a fact-related game; providing an entertainmentrelated game; providing a content related game; providing a moviecontent related game; providing a music content related game; providinga television content related game; providing a sports related game;providing a current events related game; providing a news related game;providing a trivia game; providing a sports trivia game; providing anentertainment trivia game; providing a movie trivia game; providing atelevision trivia game; providing a television program trivia game;providing games; providing incentives; providing casual games; providinghistory games; providing educational games; providing entertainmentgames; providing skill games; providing card games; providing boardgames; providing arcade games; providing games with incentives;providing mobile games; and/or providing a broadcast trivia game. 30.The method of claim 1, further comprising: requiring the participants toperform at least one of: registering as a participant; registering atleast one of an email, a username, a password, a first name, last name,and/or personally identifiable information; performing a reverse Turingtest to indicate a live participant; entering a unique indicator of theat least one participant; entering a social security number of the atleast one participant; and/or entering an email address of the at leastone participant.
 31. The method of claim 1, wherein said c) comprises:increasing said value of said prize after at least one of: said totalnumber reaches at least one threshold level of participation, said totalnumber exceeds at least one threshold level of participation, said totalnumber falls within a range of participation, said total number reachesa level of participation, and/or said total number reaches a tier ofparticipation.
 32. The method of claim 1, wherein said c) comprisesproviding a tournament to users using at least one of: a device; awatch; a gaming device; a console; an XBOX 360; a PLAYSTATION (PS/2); aPLAYSTATION PORTABLE (PSP); a kiosk; a mobile device; a telephonydevice; a browser enabled device; a web browser-enabled device; a webdevice; a computing device; a communications device; a telephony device;an interactive television (iTV) device; a wireless device; a personaldigital assistant (PDA) device; a location-based device; and/or ageographic positioning system (GPS) location-based device.
 33. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said invite comprises at least one of: abillboard; a short message system (SMS); a mobile message; an invitationto a friend; an email to a friend; a message; a notification; an alert;an internet message; a BLOG; a message board; an Internet chat session;an instant message; a chat room; an email; and/or a voice-over InternetProtocol (VoIP) session
 34. A system comprising: an game, adapted toallow at least one participant to invite at least one additionalparticipant to participate in said game, and adapted to provide anincentive to the winner of said game, wherein a value of said incentiveincreases dependent upon a total number of the participantsparticipating in said game.
 35. A system comprising: means for providinga game; means for allowing at least one participant participating insaid game to invite at least one additional participant to participatein said game; and means for providing an incentive to the winner of saidgame, wherein a value of said incentive increases dependent upon a totalnumber of the participants participating in said game.
 36. Acomputer-readable medium embodying logic which when executed on acomputer performs a method comprising: providing game; allowing at leastone participant participating in said game to invite at least oneadditional participant to participate in said game; and providing anincentive to the winner of said game, wherein a value of said incentiveincreases dependent upon a total number of the participantsparticipating in said game.
 37. A method of providing a scaleablemassively multiplayer online (MMO) game, comprising: a) upon determininga total number of participants for a game, merging participants into aminimal number of segments having up to a predetermined capacity ofparticipants per segment; and b) populating any unfilled of said minimalnumber of segments with at least one of a ghost and/or a bye, tocompletely fill each of said minimal number of segments to saidpredetermined capacity.
 38. The method of claim 36, further comprisingat least one of: c) randomly assigning participants to initial segments;d) randomly assigning participants to initial segments prior todetermining said total number of participants for said game; and/or e)reassigning said participants to a different of said segments based onany seeding of said participants.
 39. The method of claim 36, furthercomprising: c) seeding the participants within each of said segments.40. The method of claim 38, further comprising: d) reassigning theparticipants to other of said segments, based on said seeding.
 41. Themethod of claim 36, wherein said a) comprises: determining a minimalnumber of segments needed to get as close as possible to a predeterminedcapacity limitation into which to divide said total number ofparticipants to reach less than or equal to a pre-determined segmentcapacity limit.
 42. The method of claim 36, wherein said determiningcomprises determining a number x of segments into which to place theparticipants, which provides a value N^(x), wherein said value N^(X) isa nearest value greater than or equal to said total number ofparticipants.
 43. The method of 41, wherein x is equal to a number ofrounds to be played in the game.
 44. The method of claim 41, whereinsaid N is equal to at least one of: 2 for a head-to-head competition; 3for a three-way competition; 4 for a four-way competition; 4 for abridge-like competition; 5 for a 5-way competition game; 5 for a pokercompetition game; 6 for a 6-way competition game; 7 for a 7-waycompetition game; 8 for an 8-way competition game; 9 for a 9-waycompetition game; and/or 10 for a 10-way competition game.
 45. Themethod of claim 36, wherein a given segment to which a participant isassigned is transparent to the participant.
 46. The method of claim 36,wherein said merging comprises merging participants together with a bestfit algorithm.
 47. The method of claim 36, wherein there are not moreGhost and/or bye participants than real participants.
 48. The method ofclaim 36, further comprising seeding and wherein said seeding comprises:seeding based on a rating level of the participants, wherein said ratinglevel of the participants is assigned based on participant performance;seeding in bracket style, wherein said bracket style comprises havinghighest-rated participants play with lowest-rated participants.
 49. Themethod of claim 36, further comprising: d) at the end of a round,creating a new segment in a new round; and e) merging winners fromprevious adjacent segments into said new segment.
 50. The method ofclaim 36, wherein for a game having each segment populated with a N^(x)participants, only 1 of every group of the N^(x) participants move intothe next segment.
 51. The method of claim 36, wherein players in theconsolation round are not reassigned from their segments because theyare not involved in matchups.
 52. The method according to claim 36wherein said predetermined capacity comprises at least one of: 1024participants per segment; and/or a quantity N^(x), wherein N is equal toa number participants per segment, and wherein x comprises a number ofrounds of said game.
 53. The method of claim 36, wherein said c)comprises: determining a quantity N^(x) segments, wherein N is equal toa number participants per segment, and wherein x comprises a number ofrounds of said game.
 54. The method of claim 36, wherein N is equal to 2for a head to head competition.
 55. The method of claim 36, wherein N isequal to 4 for a bridge competition.
 56. The method of claim 36, whereinN is equal to 5 for a poker competition.
 57. The method of claim 36,wherein as a value of N increases, the number of rounds of the gamedecrease, and the faster said game is completed.
 58. The method of claim36, wherein x equals a number of rounds of said game.
 59. The method ofclaim 36, wherein x equals a number of initial segments.
 60. The methodaccording to claim 36, wherein data transmission packets are the samesize regardless of said total number of participants.